We are all sparks of light
We are sparks of light but we hide it
Exitmusic, "Sparks of Light
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Jareth swung the sword hard from the left, meeting the prince's parry with the grating sound of metal on metal. He grinned at the prince, and shifted position to try a different tactic. He knew he was being hard on the boy. He couldn't help himself, his frustrations with Maeve, the putrid sickness, Sarah – especially Sarah, demanded resolution or at least a target.
He'd met with the rulers of four of the other kingdoms today, and observed the devastation caused by the putrid sickness. He smirked, recalling the expressions on the other rulers' faces when he'd arrived on his dragon, Camulus. Half had been admiring, some lustfully so; the other half had rolled their eyes and expressed irritation at the display. It never hurt to remind them of his…. capabilities.
He'd stopped smiling when he'd seen the mass of ashen piles the "sickness" had left in its wake. Apparently, if any being or plant life under one-hundred years old was infected, the creature or plant would very quickly – within a matter of days – deteriorate to an ash-like state. Those beings and plant life under about one-hundred years old did not currently show symptoms. No one had explanations. Their efforts at controlling the environment and what they knew about the sickness seemed to slow it down, but they could not stop it altogether.
A small part of the Goblin Kingdom bordered the Elven kingdom. It just so happened, the sickness had appeared very near the border. Jareth wanted to threaten the Elven king into containing it, but he knew – he knew, Erlik had no idea what to do, and threats would not solve it. Besides, Erlik's son was his favorite companion.
The swords clanged deafeningly as Toby flinched, feeling the full force of the blow from Jareth's attack. "Ow! Dammit!" he cried in frustration, dropping the sword as waves of pain coursed up his arm from his wrist. No parry position would have worked against that. The king stepped back and pointed the practice sword at the prince. "Pick it up," he motioned at the sword. "Any sensible opponent would have run you through by now." Toby rubbed his arm, seething. He reached down to pick up the sword, pausing when he rose. He silently repeated the mantra his uncle had taught him when he became frustrated at sword practice. Be patient. Be humble – that one made him laugh. Learn from those who are more skilled than you. He was exhausted, sweat was trickling down every surface of his body, and the king wasn't even winded, or sweating. "Something's bothering you," Toby stated tentatively, leaving the sword hanging at his side.
His Uncle had seemed to have pixies up his ass ever since Scarface, his sister, or whoever she was had showed up, and he wouldn't talk about it. The Goblin King slashed at the air and glared at Toby. "So you presume to know my mind?" he asked severely. Toby smirked to himself. The king was angry that his emotions were so obvious, that much he could tell. Suddenly, the king's lithe form lunged forward to attack, a blur of black and white. Before Toby could register the move entirely, he parried and attacked with a riposte, forcing Jareth's sword to move away from his upper torso. This time the king smirked, clearly pleased with his move. Toby's heart was pounding. "Aren't you supposed to warn me to be on guard?" he asked incredulously. Jareth grinned and lazily swung his sword in circles. "If we were playing for points, yes," he drawled, "but we are practicing how to avoid being killed."
Suddenly, the king shivered and stared off into space, eyes focused intently on nothing Toby could see. It couldn't be a wish – Toby felt the wisher's calls now just as Jareth did, and was the primary one responsible for answering them. "What is it?" Toby questioned, brow furrowed in concern. "A wisher?" The king spent another moment in a pose of intense concentration, and then seemed to return to the moment, glaring back at Toby, his jaws tensed in anger. "No," he replied, "it's something much more dangerous." He eyed Toby's exhausted state and held his hand out for the prince's sword. "Enough. Off to get cleaned up. We have guests for dinner. I will deal with this."
Toby groaned, already hearing the boring, monotonous dinner conversation drone on in his head. "I hear Lord FancyAss of the blah blah kingdom has been seen in the Elven kingdom on a number of occasions with a certain royal advisor." Queue nauseating laughter. Maybe he should jump out of a window before 'd probably just land on a goblin. Jareth handed off the swords to an attendant and headed for the main hall. "Uncle!" he nearly shouted as he remembered what he'd wanted to ask him earlier. Jareth turned towards Toby, one brow raised. "Is she ok? Can I talk to her?"
Toby thought he saw some expression pass over the king's face, but he couldn't be sure. Jareth just stared at him for a moment, seemingly lost in thought, before finally answering. "Yes, she is well. And you can see her when you strike a killing blow in practice." Then, he turned and walked out to the great hall. Well, then. With nothing else to keep his attention, he suddenly became aware of the smell of his clothes and the sweat cooling rapidly against his skin. Another memory assaulted him – they seemed to come in waves.
He had been wearing some kind of lightweight, black shirt and shorts, with long socks and tightly-laced shoes "We won," he'd yelled triumphantly, launching himself into the air, and at his fellow teammates. A blond woman was running toward him, and he nearly tackled her in return. "We won!" he announced to the woman, grabbing a black and white ball, and kicking it as hard as he could. The woman smiled and laughed warmly. "Six goals! You were amazing, son!" she gushed, hugging him. "Even though you smell like a barnyard." He'd laughed at her comment.
He sniffed at the billowy shirt. Yep, definitely barnyard. He headed towards the stairs, boots clicking in the empty hall – then he felt it. The sharp tug at the base of his spine. He felt a cold, tingling sensation as he was suddenly clean and dressed in the regalia of the Goblin Kingdom. His blond, curly locks fell over one eye as he conjured a crystal and gazed into it, grinning. Damn shame I'm going to miss dinner.
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Sarah was admiring the pants she'd stitched together from some of the clothes Hoggle had left when the stocky dwarf barged through the door, holding out a stick with a cloth sack tied to the end, his expression somewhat panicked. "I got your sample, Sarah! Take it - now!" he nearly screeched, pointing the stick at her, as if to get it as far away from him as possible. "Don't know why I let you talk me into this. Stuff sucks the life out of ya." Sarah shot him a withering glance, set down the pants and began to remove the bag from the end of the stick.
As she nimbly untied the bag, she had to admit she felt a shudder of excitement – excitement that she hadn't felt since working on her research project. "That's it," she said softly, carefully coaxing the locked box from the makeshift bag and setting it reverently on the table. "Sarah, you do know what you're doin, don't you?" Hoggle asked plaintively. "I mean, this stuff is killin' trees and trolls. There ain't no tellin' what it could do to you…or me." His heavy brows were knitted with worry. He looked absolutely terrified – even more than when they had encountered Jareth when escaping from the oubliette all those years ago. She grinned at him, pulling her dark hair up and securing it out of the way. "Relax, Hoggle. This is what I do – what I did, anyway, everyday."
Though she itched to get the sample under the microscope, she needed to know some specifics about the putrid sickness, and Hoggle was her only current source. Drawing on the knowledge of her college friends, and how they always opened up after a few beers, she treated him to a pint of ale. She could almost imagine she and her friends were at their favorite dive…. Of course, he had to retrieve it from the tavern, since she was still confined to the storehouse. He deserved at least that for getting the sample.
Hoggle nervously eyed the box as he gulped his ale. "So Hoggle, based on what you've seen and heard, does this stuff grow on things and look kind of plant-like, or does it look a stain, spreading out of itself, or can you even see it?" Over the next several minutes, Hoggle spilled everything he knew about the putrid sickness to Sarah, figuring he'd already warranted bogging for bringing the thing into the kingdom, if Jareth found out. Somehow, Jareth seemed to find out everything. The guards had seen him bring in the bag. He should have been more careful. Oh well. He turned up his ale. One last drink…
Hoggle had left abruptly after she'd asked for the key. Sarah changed into the pants she'd stitched together and cut the shift to resemble a tank top. "Thank god," she thought to herself, at the feeling of being in comfortable clothes. She'd would still have looked homeless in her world – she'd never learned to sew, but it felt sooo much better. She convinced herself she was being careful, even though she knew she didn't have the proper equipment.
She was wearing gloves, and she'd tied a heavy material cut from one of Hoggle's blankets over her mouth and nose. There wasn't much she could do for her eyes – there were no goggles, of course. She would just have to be careful, and anticipate possible contamination, maybe spores or endospores…
Sarah took the two plates she'd cut from broken glass she'd stored away for just such an occasion, pulled the see-through shift material over the box and reached for the key. It was the best she could do. From her understanding, if something wasn't done, all the kingdoms of the Underground would eventually suffer the effects of this organism, whatever it was. Subconsciously, she reached for her iPod as she usually did while she was working in the lab. Right. Only I'm not in the lab, and I'll probably never see an iPod again.
She held her breath as she cut away a part of the sample and encased it in the plates. She cautiously transferred the sample under another part of the torn shift that she'd secured around the microscope – she could almost hear her microbiology professor screaming at her with a slight Hindi lilt. It was a poor excuse for safety equipment, but it was all she had. She carefully fixed the plates under the clips and shifted the candles she was using to illuminate the sample. After adjusting the focus knobs, she realized it was going to be difficult to determine the difference between the structure of the sample and the putrid sickness, unless she knew what the original sample had been.
"What…are…you…doing?" a familiar voice behind her drawled. Sarah sat up abruptly, automatically being careful not to topple the microscope or disturb the sample. She sucked in a slow breath as she slowly turned on the stool to see the Goblin King, propped in a corner of the room, arms crossed, surveying her judiciously from under escaped wisps of hair as if she'd been caught doing something she shouldn't be doing….again.
Sarah huffed. She was tired of his overbearing attitude. She wasn't a teenager shoplifting her favorite merchandise. She met his gaze and crossed her arms as well. "I'm trying to help figure out what this 'putrid sickness' is that seems to be plaguing the Underground. His thin lips pursed as he pushed off the wall and closed the distance between them. When he reached her stool, she noticed she was staring straight at his amulet, where his shirt was open. She couldn't help but notice that his skin resembled alabaster or unpolished marble. She looked up to meet his gaze again.
"Sarah, I have the distinct impression you are 'hell-bent', as they say, on destroying my kingdom," he stated, without emotion, staring at her accusingly with his strange eyes. "Your Majesty," she stated, "I'm just trying to help," she implored. "Actually, this is what I do – did, back in my world, before the…train wreck." She thought she saw his jaw tense when she mentioned the wreck. Though she held his gaze, she was very conscious of his presence, his smooth chest, his tight, black pants and severe boots. Don't even go there, Sarah. Not him. He's not for you, and anyway, he's treating you like you're twelve.
The Goblin King tapped his lips as he held her gaze. She couldn't tell what he was thinking, and guessed that she should prepare herself for a royal tantrum. He glanced down at the microscope, then back to Sarah. Finally, he spoke. "What do you see?" he asked, gesturing towards the equipment. Sarah was incredulous. Really? The great Goblin King wants to know what I see in the microscope? She shifted off of the stool, and motioned for him to look in the eyepiece. "I don't know what the normal structure of organisms from the Underground looks like," she explained as he peered into the eyepiece. "So, I need someone to help me with that, but I did see something that made no sense, based on what I know of bacteria where I come from."
The king huffed as he peered through the long, black tube. "Oh," Sarah interjected, remembering the difficulty in getting oriented to the eyepiece. "Close one eye," she instructed, as she began slowly manipulating the focus knobs. "Tell me when it's clearer." She couldn't help but brush against his arm as she adjusted the knobs, and his hair tickled the side of her face, almost making her laugh, which, she decided, she should probably not do at this moment. "I see something," he stated unenthusiastically, looking up at Sarah. "It's like nothing I've ever seen, your Majesty. It looks like bacteria…it behaves like bacteria." Sarah paused and looked to the side as if thinking to herself, "but I swear it looks like they have a nucleus."
Jareth gazed back up at her, brows furrowed, eyes intense. "Explain," he commanded.
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"The Goblin King will join us when it's necessary," she stated in an assuring voice, crystalline tone echoing throughout the chamber. "How do you know?" Silver Eyes questioned, massaging her hand tentatively, her dark nails nails extracting slightly as he applied pressure to her palm. Maeve chuckled and shivered, continuing to allow his actions. "There is a new game piece on the board, and he likes it very much," she smiled, leaning back against the chaise.
A/N: Props to the reviewers: Sazzle76, Jediavenger, Lyn79, annibale, Zuzubirds